Child Welfare Financing Survey SFY 2016

Child welfare agencies across the United States protect and promote the welfare of children and youth who are at risk of, or who have been victims of, maltreatment. State and local child welfare agencies rely on multiple funding streams to administer programs and services, and each state’s unique funding composition determines what services are available to children and families, which approaches are used, and the way that child welfare agencies operate. At least seven funding sources are available to agencies, each with its own unique purposes, eligibility parameters, and limitations; this creates a complex financing structure that can be challenging to understand.

To address this challenge, Child Trends conducts a biennial national survey of child welfare agency expenditures to promote a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that agencies face in serving vulnerable children. The Child Welfare Financing Survey originated in the mid-1990s and is a comprehensive guide to child welfare agency expenditures. It has been administered and published by Child Trends since 2007, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs.

Child Welfare Financing Survey SFY 2014

During each round of the survey, states are provided the opportunity to make corrections to data they submitted in prior years. We incorporate these updates into the latest Child Welfare Financing Survey products. Therefore, the historical data used in the latest products may differ from the data originally reported in products from prior years.